Saint Bartolo Longo ( February 10th 1841 –  October 5th 1926),
also known as the ‘Apostle of the Holy Rosary’ or the ‘Man of the Virgin Mary’, is one of the most fascinating figures in modern Church history. His life bears powerful witness to a profound fall, a radical turning point (conversion) and the boundless mercy capable of transforming a sinner into a saint.
1. Youth and Straying in Naples
Bartolo was born in the small town of Latiano in southern Italy to a devout and wealthy family. When he was ten years old, his mother died, an event that deeply marked his adolescence. Whilst studying law at the University of Naples in the 1860s – a period of turbulent social change and anti-clerical sentiment – he completely lost his faith. Influenced by the prevailing fashion for spiritualism and the occult at the time, he began visiting Neapolitan magicians and became so deeply involved in occult practices that he became a Satanist priest. This period of his life was marked by a profound inner crisis, paranoia, depression, nightmares and complete mental exhaustion.
2. A Profound Conversion
When Bartolo reached the brink of mental and physical collapse and was even contemplating suicide, God’s mercy reached out to him. His friend, Professor Vincenzo Pepe, persuaded him to abandon the occult and introduced him to the Dominican priest, Father Alberto Radente. Father Radente helped Bartolo come to terms with his past, bringing him back to the sacraments and to a devotion to the Virgin Mary. The turning point came when Bartolo publicly renounced Satanism, raised a rosary above his head and declared: ‘I renounce spiritualism, for it is nothing but a labyrinth of delusions and lies!’
On October 7th 1871, he joined the Third Order of Saint Dominic and took the name Rosario (Rosary). As a sign of repentance and to make amends for the scandal he had previously caused, he voluntarily cared for the terminally ill in a hospital in Naples for two years.
3. The Apostle of the Rosary and Pompeii
In 1872, business matters took him to the nearby valley of Pompeii. At that time, the place was poor, morally neglected, and the people there lived in deep ignorance and superstition. One day, as he was walking through the desolate countryside, he felt a profound sense of inner anguish and heard echoing in his soul the words Father Radente had spoken to him: ‘If you seek salvation, spread the Rosary. It is the promise of the Virgin Mary.’ This moment definitively set him on the path to his life’s work.
● Building the shrine: He resolved to promote the prayer of the Holy Rosary amongst the local people. He focused on restoring the dilapidated local chapel and succeeded in acquiring a miraculous image of Our Lady of the Rosary, which quickly became famous for the many healings attributed to it.
● The Basilica and Charitable Works: On the initiative of Bartol Longo, work began on the construction of the great Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary (consecrated and later elevated to the status of a minor basilica), to which he attached orphanages, homes for prisoners’ children and schools. He married the widow Countess Marianna Farnararo De Fusco (with whom he lived in a chaste marriage devoted to good works) and together they dedicated their entire fortune and lives to this work.
● Literary work: He founded the magazine *The Rosary and New Pompeii* and wrote numerous prayers, including the famous *Prayer to Our Lady of Pompeii*.
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4. Death and Legacy
Bartolo Longo devoted a full 52 years to building a spiritual and material centre in Pompeii. He died on 5 October 1926 at the age of 85. His remains rest in the crypt beneath the high altar of the Great Basilica in Pompeii. On October 26th 1980, Pope John Paul II declared him Blessed and called him the ‘great apostle of the Rosary’. His liturgical memorial is on October 6th.